Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with methods of enhancing mechanical and degradation properties of hydrogels and biopolymers.
WIPO Patent Publication No. WO 2009/108760 A8 (Zawko and Schmidt, 2009) discloses a hydrogel and a method of making a porous hydrogel by preparing an aqueous mixture of an uncrosslinked polymer and a crystallizable molecule; casting the mixture into a vessel; allowing the cast mixture to dry to form an amorphous hydrogel film; seeding the cast mixture with a seed crystal of the crystallizable molecule; growing the crystallizable molecule into a crystal structure within the uncrosslinked polymer; crosslinking the polymer around the crystal structure under conditions in which the crystal structure within the crosslinked polymer is maintained; and dissolving the crystals within the crosslinked polymer to form the porous hydrogel.